The clouds overhead quietly dispersed, allowing sunlight to filter into the chapel. It passed through the delicate white gauze curtains, gently kissing the girl's cheek.
She offered her greeting calmly, as if she had known all along that Ren would be the one to awaken her. A faint smile played on her lips, her exquisite eyes shimmering like clear autumn pools.
In that instant, the world seemed to dim around her, leaving only a single shaft of sunlight falling from behind Ren, merging his shadow with the girl's form.
"Good morning, [Kiana]."
Bathed in the warm light, Ren's voice was exceptionally gentle. He leaned down softly and lifted the girl from the ice coffin.
The sunlight shifted from behind him to embrace the girl in his arms. Shadows receded from her figure, bit by bit, until both were bathed together in the bright radiance.
Though it wasn't truly morning, glistening dewdrops had somehow gathered at the corners of [Kiana]'s eyes. Trembling, she reached out a hand, gently touching Ren's cheek. Tears blurred her vision, making the boy before her feel intensely unreal.
Only when her fingertips made contact, truly feeling the warmth of his skin, did all her worries instantly dissolve into nothingness.
"It's not a dream. That's wonderful." A tear traced a path down her cheek. [Kiana] smiled beautifully, closing her eyes and nestling closer to Ren's chest, quietly savoring this fleeting warmth.
...
Leaving the sealed area where Aponia had laid her Discipline, Ren carried [Kiana] back to the floating stairway leading to the lower levels. Here, there was nothing but serene white clouds and a clear blue sky adorning their private world.
"You've endured much," Ren said softly. The girl in his arms looked pale; the prolonged cryo-sleep had left her very weak. Even with Kevin's precise control, the invasive chill of the ice coffin couldn't be entirely avoided.
"No, for me, it was just like sleeping. A long, dreamless night. Besides, when I woke up, you were right here beside me." [Kiana] squinted, peering through narrowed eyelids to shield herself from the overly bright light. But her gaze wasn't fixed on the brilliant sky, but on Ren.
"It's just... waking up now, I feel like you've changed a lot."
"Is that so."
"Mhm. The you from before would never have carried me like this for so long."
Ren remained silent.
"Back then, you were always so cautious with your feelings. Even if you liked that girl, you never showed it. So whenever I got close, you'd always instinctively resist."
"But it's different now. I can feel that your heart is very calm, like a traveler nearing the end of a long journey. You've accepted the sights along the way, and you've accepted your own feelings too."
She tilted her head up, looking into Ren's pale gray eyes. "So I guess... the plan succeeded, right?"
The "plan" naturally referred to the one Ren had devised in Nagazora City to break free from the Will of the Honkai—sealing his emotions, using false affection to deceive its observation, and ultimately destroying it. But [Kiana] clearly wasn't referring to that plan, but rather the lie embedded within it: 'I will no longer be swayed by emotions.'
Ren knew of [Kiana]'s feelings for him, feelings he was destined never to return. He nodded gently, offering no deception. "From beginning to end, unchanging through eternity."
Unexpectedly, [Kiana] showed no disappointment. Instead, she seemed somewhat relieved.
"That's wonderful."
Ren didn't know what she meant by 'wonderful,' but they both tacitly dropped the subject, simply walking slowly along the cloud-like stairway, step by steady step.
Soon, they returned to the chapel in the Deep End. It remained a dilapidated wreck, but Aponia was nowhere to be seen.
"Were you just fighting here?"
"Mhm. Some entities didn't want you to wake up."
"This place doesn't seem like the real world... Looks like I really did sleep for a long time." [Kiana] looked at the collapsed marble pillars, a touch of wistfulness in her expression.
"It has been 193 days since the Nagazora City incident."
"Really? It's already been over half a year?"
"I'm sorry it took so long to come for you."
[Kiana] shook her head slightly, signaling him not to continue. "I told you, for me, it was just a quiet sleep. 193 days might seem long for a single night, but compared to ten years, it's incredibly short."
"As long as you came for me, I don't mind waiting, no matter how long."
"..." The smile on the girl's face was so radiant that Ren felt momentarily dazed.
Unfortunately, now wasn't the time for reminiscing. Ren had come to the Elysian Realm with two goals: retrieve [Kiana], and find clues about his own past. With the most crucial objective achieved, it was time to press onward towards the Immaculate Land.
...
Retracing their steps, Ren arrived back at the entrance area. With the Discipline lifted, the dark region had become bright once more. When dealing with Aponia, he had left Sakura and Mobius's body here temporarily. Now that things were settled, it was time for Sakura to fulfill her end of the bargain.
However, upon returning, he found only Mobius's corpse. Sakura herself was gone.
"Betrayal?" Ren's heart sank. His deal with Sakura was only a verbal agreement; if she wanted to break it, no rules bound her. But Ren had sought out Sakura precisely because he knew her personality wouldn't allow for such treachery, especially concerning Rin's past.
Even taking a huge step back, hypothetically, even if the Discipline was lifted and her memories restored, she wouldn't just abandon Mobius's body like this. Although the Flame-Chasers had their disagreements, they were ultimately comrades who had fought together until the final battle. Leaving like this was clearly abnormal.
Unless... some kind of accident occurred.
Ren's brow furrowed. His gaze fell upon the faintly glowing portal—the direction he had originally come from. But emanating from the portal now was a completely new aura.
"Ren, why do I feel like the space here... has been corrupted by some kind of power?" [Kiana] observed their surroundings, her expression strange. Even though she had never been here before, she sensed a familiar presence—a Herrscher.
"Mhm." Ren crouched down, gently touching a sword mark left on the ground. The gash was about a foot long, its edges clearly fragmented. Given Sakura's swordsmanship, she normally wouldn't leave such a crude mark. There was only one possibility: when she made this strike, she hadn't been in control of her emotions.
"Was she attacked by something?" He stood up, the authority of the Herrscher of Dominance manifesting again as golden light flowing from his eyes. Simultaneously, the surrounding space seemed to freeze, slowing dramatically in his perception. Invisible threads of dominance crisscrossed like a spiderweb, capturing every trace of what had happened.
The feedback from the threads confirmed his suspicion: the area around the portal had indeed been corrupted, and the source of the corruption was one of his own kind.
Which meant a new Herrscher had entered the Elysian Realm.
"It seems my prediction wasn't wrong." This outcome didn't surprise Ren. Back when he made the deal with Number 17, he had faintly sensed some gaze secretly watching him from the darkness. He had intended to investigate after completing the transaction, but when Number 17 left, the feeling of being watched vanished.
Clearly, that had been the nascent consciousness of a new Herrscher. Its disappearance from Imaginary Space likely meant it had followed Number 17 into reality. He just hadn't expected it to somehow slip into the Elysian Realm right under Kevin's nose.
"Well now," Ren murmured, a thoughtful expression crossing his face, "things are about to get interesting."